This will be an epic game. My Facebook feed is going crazy with A's fans! Oakland/East Bay fans really need this, having put up with years and years of terrible sport seasons, what wih the Warriors and the Raiders and constant plans of professional teams leaving the city.

Both LA area teams should be considered laughing stocks right now. The Angels spent $154 million for the whole season. The Dodgers took in $200+ million in the middle of the season and they were sub-.500 from that point on.

desertgeek:Both LA area teams should be considered laughing stocks right now. The Angels spent $154 million for the whole season. The Dodgers took in $200+ million in the middle of the season and they were sub-.500 from that point on.

wait wait.. you're saying taking over most of the payroll from a sub-.500 team DOESN'T lead to success?

The Bestest:desertgeek: Both LA area teams should be considered laughing stocks right now. The Angels spent $154 million for the whole season. The Dodgers took in $200+ million in the middle of the season and they were sub-.500 from that point on.

wait wait.. you're saying taking over most of the payroll from a sub-.500 team DOESN'T lead to success?

Um... yes, yes I am.

/No sane Dodgers fan can really think any of those guys will do anything to make them better over the next few years, right?

desertgeek:The Bestest: desertgeek: Both LA area teams should be considered laughing stocks right now. The Angels spent $154 million for the whole season. The Dodgers took in $200+ million in the middle of the season and they were sub-.500 from that point on.

wait wait.. you're saying taking over most of the payroll from a sub-.500 team DOESN'T lead to success?

Um... yes, yes I am.

/No sane Dodgers fan can really think any of those guys will do anything to make them better over the next few years, right?

Remember when everyone was laughing at the LA Kings for making the Jack Johnson for Jeff Carter trade at the deadline? How did that turn out?

Sometimes trades and signing work out and sometimes they don't. Happens to every team that's willing to pull the trigger on big trades and I don't think any team has a perfect record on big trades/big free agent contracts.

desertgeek:/No sane Dodgers fan can really think any of those guys will do anything to make them better over the next few years, right?

I'm no Dodgers fan (f*ck you Kirk Gibson), nor am I sane, but I can see Adrian Gonzalez being a contributor for a while yet. Who the hell knows about Carl Crawford, and I think Beckett's best years are far behind him.

ddam:Remember when everyone was laughing at the LA Kings for making the Jack Johnson for Jeff Carter trade at the deadline? How did that turn out?

Very well, but I'm still amazed the Kings seriously had to give up a first-rounder and an (at the time) underachieving but VERY talented young d-man in Jack Johnson for a guy, as talented as Carter is in his own right when motivated, Columbus at that point just wanted gone. Howson is a terrible GM, and the Kings are and will be fine anyway, but that was a fantastic haul for CBJ as well.

But, because it's Howson we're talking about, I imagine Columbus used that pick to draft Igor Bulibeergutsky, a 39 year old Georgian homebrewer who happens to play goalie in a local Tbilisi church league

As a Cardinals fan I'm laughing at the Angels and Albert Pujols. Yes, the Cardinals backed into a crappy wild card spot: but at least they'll be playing at least one postseason game with a rookie manager and a lineup riddled with injuries.

mainstreet62:bhcompy: It will hopefully mean the end of Scioscia. Good manager, but time to move on and get a fresh perspective.

Mike Scioscia has been outstanding. I don't understand why you or anyone wouldn't like him.

For one, he made mistakes this year that cost important games down the stretch that he wouldn't have previously. Things like not bunting a guy on first base over with no outs to secure a win in the 9th. This really is counter to his philosophy, signs that he's second guessing himself.

Then there's also the stewardship. The team's bullpen is getting progressively more awful, but the talent has been touted for years. Under Black, they were great, under Butcher they have slid year to year. Fuentes and Rodney came in from the outside, had a single good year, then went to shiat, and then did better again once they moved on. Hatcher always presided over offenses that occasionally hit well, but never displayed plate discipline, and the true power hitters they developed can be counted on one hand(Glaus, Napoli, Trumbo)

Then there is the philosophy itself. A team of this caliber doesn't need a smallball philosophy. You need a more Yankees/Torre philosophy, imho.

Cagey B:desertgeek: /No sane Dodgers fan can really think any of those guys will do anything to make them better over the next few years, right?

I'm no Dodgers fan (f*ck you Kirk Gibson), nor am I sane, but I can see Adrian Gonzalez being a contributor for a while yet. Who the hell knows about Carl Crawford, and I think Beckett's best years are far behind him.

Way too high of a price to pay for getting Gonzalez, though.

Adrian Gonzalez is an excellent player, but I agree with that assessment. Two expensive years of Beckett, who may or may not return to form, and 5 more years of Crawford is hideous. That's one hell of an expensive way for the new owners to tell fans "hey, we want to win too!"

bhcompy:Then there is the philosophy itself. A team of this caliber doesn't need a smallball philosophy. You need a more Yankees/Torre philosophy, imho.

I disagree somewhat. As a Yankees fan, I am largely disappointed that we don't play more small ball.

In fact, some small ball (suicide squeeze) would have won the game for us in the 9th yesterday, and possibly led to more runs before that. Yes, suicide squeezing is highly risky, but would ANYONE expect that from the Yankees, especially from Tex?

mainstreet62:bhcompy: Then there is the philosophy itself. A team of this caliber doesn't need a smallball philosophy. You need a more Yankees/Torre philosophy, imho.

I disagree somewhat. As a Yankees fan, I am largely disappointed that we don't play more small ball.

In fact, some small ball (suicide squeeze) would have won the game for us in the 9th yesterday, and possibly led to more runs before that. Yes, suicide squeezing is highly risky, but would ANYONE expect that from the Yankees, especially from Tex?

Well problem with the Yankees is that most of their small ball centered around Brett Gardner. Gardner in actually gave Girardi a reason to plug DefensiveLiability Nunez into the lineup whenever one of the 'stars' needed their rotating DH time.With Gardner out, the entire strategy changed, and the plug-ins ended up being Eric Chavez, Raul Ibanez and Fat Andruw.

tortilla burger:tnpir: I can't bear to watch. The Rangers are about to finish off an epic choke and it's going to royally piss me off.

Oh, and subby, the game starts in two hours, not tonight.

I hardly consider finishing second in the division an epic choke...the As are the hottest team in baseball right now.

Other the other hand, I hardly consider blowing a 4 game lead with 6 to play as anything BUT an epic choke. The Rangers led this division comfortably since April 9, and now, after 161 games, are on the verge of blowing it. I'm sorry, but I can't be rational about this - it just pisses me off.